MPs accuse Westminster of ‘forgetting about Wales’

WHITEHALL officials have been accused of “forgetting” about Wales in a report by a committee of MPs published today.

WHITEHALL officials have been accused of “forgetting” about Wales in a report by a committee of MPs published today.

The report also says a breakdown in communications between Cardiff Bay and Whitehall over skills training has left key employers scratching their heads.

Neither side has taken enough notice of policies on the opposite side of the border, according to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee.

Employers are left unsure over whether training qualifications taken in Wales count for anything in England, and vice versa.

Ministers have repeatedly focused on the need to develop a highly-skilled workforce to mitigate against the worst effects of the recession.

And the report is the latest to highlight the difficulties in establishing functional relationships between the Assembly Government and Whitehall departments.

An example of the difficulty, highlighted by the MPs, is Airbus, which employs 7,000 people just within the Welsh border at Broughton.

The aerospace giant says it feared the development of an “extremely confusing and disparate qualification system...changes being proposed are seen as a significant potential risk”.

In evidence to the committee, Airbus also raised concern that the planned National Apprenticeship Service for England would lead to further differences between Wales and England.

The report notes that communi- cation between the Assembly Government and the UK Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) on the issue has “not been sufficiently effective” and has only added to confusion.

“There is a need for officials within Whitehall to have a better understanding of devolution as there is an impression that some officials believe that it means they can ‘forget’ about Wales,” the MPs say.

“Similarly there is a need for officials and Ministers in the Welsh Assembly to take a greater interest in developing policies across the border.

“Devolution provides an opportunity for Wales to do things differently and for different approaches to be road-tested on either side of the border, but in both cases the objective must be to do things better for the sake of learners, employers and the wider community rather than being different just for the sake of it.”

The reports also warns that Welsh universities will continue to fall behind their English counterparts if the estimated £61m annual funding gap is not closed.

Hywel Francis, the Aberavon MP who chairs the committee, said: “While we heard evidence that some mechanisms for cross- border provision of further education are working, we are concerned that the border remains a perceived barrier, and levels of cooperation between Whitehall and the Welsh Assembly Government must be improved to ensure clarity is provided for students and employers over choices available to them.

“Ministerial meetings need to be more transparent so that UK government departments can demonstrate that they are cooperating effectively.”

Committee member David Jones, the Conservative MP for Clwyd West, said: “I find it extraordinary that WAG and DIUS didn’t liaise with a company like Airbus. I don’t think there should be divergence in policy so that trainees are being disadvantaged in this way.

“Devolution is supposed to be something that works for the benefit of the individual; in this particular case it’s not working and this is a significant failure at a very difficult time.”

He denied suggestions the report was an attack on the Assembly Government, saying: “The report does criticise WAG but it does criticise DIUS [too]. If it is a dig, it’s not gratuitous; we’ve identified failings that are acting to the disbenefit of people in Wales.”

A spokeswoman for the Assembly Government said: “The success of devolution means that there are inevitably going to be differences between policies in England and those in Wales but the Assembly Government continues to work closely with its counterparts in Westminster.”

She added: “The Assembly Government remains committed to a vibrant and competitive higher education sector in Wales.

“The Education Minister recently set out the Government’s reaction to Professor Merfyn Jones’ first stage report on HE which outlines how we intend to take forward action against its three priorities of support for students, tackling student debt, and investing in higher education.”

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